On'yomi or Kun'yomi? And if there are more variants, then which one? For me, this is probably the biggest obstacle in learning Japanese when not relying on the support of a native speaker. Too many times I'm not sure how to read certain combinations of kanji.

For example, I see sometimes in food-related contexts, the expression 夢料理. The last two kanji most certainly are pronounced "ryouri". But the first one (with the meaning of "dream")? Is "mu" (on'yomi) or "yume" (kun'yomi)? At the beginning I was ready to read it "yume", but a Google search gives mostly Chinese results, so I became very uncertain about this.

I'm sure that many others encountered similar problems, so I'd like to ask if you have found some possibilities to improve the reading proficiency in this sense (also it would be great if someone would know how to pronounce this particular expression).

The only way is to look up anything you don't know how to read and remember the reading, and practice a lot. There's really no other tips than that; I assume you're good enough to know the basic stuff like "compounds usually use on-yomi". Personally I would read that as "yume ryouri" but either way you read it as long as you know the meaning that's OK.

Even native Japanese have trouble with this. In my job, there are many technical terms that you can't just look up. More often than I would expect, they use the kun reading in compounds. I have asked people how they know that its the kun reading instead of the on reading and they have all told me that they just learn by listening to other people say the word.

Not very helpful if you don't know anyone that actually knows the pronunciation, hunh?

OitaFish wrote:Even native Japanese have trouble with this. In my job, there are many technical terms that you can't just look up. More often than I would expect, they use the kun reading in compounds. I have asked people how they know that its the kun reading instead of the on reading and they have all told me that they just learn by listening to other people say the word.

Not very helpful if you don't know anyone that actually knows the pronunciation, hunh?

OitaFish wrote:More often than I would expect, they use the kun reading in compounds.

I think that's because the Japanese readings are a lot more unique than the Chinese ones, which means even someone who doesn't know the word will be able to get the gist of what it means.

For example, 東 can either be read as ひがし or とう.

If you say ひがし, it can only mean 東, but とう could mean 当,党,等,頭,灯, or a plethora of other things. The reader can see the kanji and understand the meaning, but the listener can't see the kanji and so to eliminate confusion it works best to use the Japanese readings. (and if the reader doesn't know the reading, the listener probably won't either)

There are, in Japan, two ways of reading kanji, one being 音読み(おんよみ - "on" reading) and the other being 訓読み(くんよみ - "kun" reading). This is markedly different from the kanji reading used in China, where kanji came from, in that there is basically only one way of reading one particular kanji and no other. On-yomi reading of kanji in Japan went through a number of phases, such as 呉音(ごおん）、漢音(かんおん） and 唐音(とうおん）through the history and they all stayed to form a potpourri of different kanji readings.

On top of that, our ancestors used kanji as a tool to express 大和言葉(やまとことば - yamato-kotoba, the original Japanese language which existed before kanji were imported from China). In 万葉仮名（まんにょうかな - manyou kana）, the first crude attempts were made to transplant yamato-kotoba on phonetic basis, similar to romaji rendition of Japanese. However, it was not strictly sound basis, but some consideration was given to the meanings of kanji used. For example, 君之行 気長成奴 山多都禰 迎加將行 待爾可將待 would be read as きみがゆき けながくなりぬ やまたづね むかえかゆかむ まちにかまたむ (Since you've gone, I have become very patient. I will go up the mountains to welcome you and [in so doing] wait and wait). Later, instead of using the phonetic approach of まんにょうかな、which was very cumbersome as romaji is cumbersome in rendering Japanese, taking individual kanji and fitting the meaning of yamato-kotoba has become prevalent. In this manner 訓読み was born. In rendering おそれおののく (shaking through the body because of fear), for example, 恐れ戦く was used. おそれ was matched to 恐れ and おののく was matched to 戦く.

If anyone is interested, I am prepared to continue discussion of this subject.

Last edited by bamboo4 on Fri 03.07.2008 2:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

In the multiple kun-yomi reading department, there is one kanji that unquestionably is entitled to the seat of champion, outdistancing all other "also-ran" kanji in the race. That kanji is 生. It is simply not possible to recount all variations of kun-readings of 生 in this thread, but I will try at least to demonstrate some common and not-too-common examples.

生きる(いきる）= to live 生き生き(いきいき）= vigorous, lively 生き字引(いきじびき）= walking encyclopedia 生き写し(いきうつし）= a dead ringer生まれる(うまれる）= to be born 生まれ合わせ(うまれあわせ）= to be born in the same generation 生まれ変わる(うまれかわる) = to be born again, to go through incarnation, to change one's character drastically 生まれたて(うまれたて） = newly born生む(うむ） = to give birth to 生み落とす(うみおとす）= to give birth to 生み出す(うみだす）= to create anew 生みの親(うみのおや）= biological parent; founder; progenitor生える(はえる） = to grow; to sprout 毛が生える(けがはえる） = hair grows 蒔かぬ種は生えぬ（まかぬたねははえぬ） = No mill, no meal. 毛生え薬（けはえぐすり） = hair restoring tonic 生え際(はえぎわ）= hairline

Having covered the kanji 生 and amazingly diverse kun-yomi readings associated with it, let's move on to others:

初(はじめ）= first; beginning 初な(うぶな）= naive 初鰹(はつがつお） = first bonito fish for the year 初産(ういざん）= birth of the first child 初孫(ういまご）= the first grand child 出初式(でぞめしき）= ceremony to mark the first firemen training session for the year 暇(ひま）= 暇がない(I don't have time) 暇(いとま）= 数える暇がない(I can't give count of all that)被る(こうむる）= 損害を被る（suffer damages) 被る(かむる）= 帽子を被る(put on a hat)強か(したたか）= hard; tough 手強い(てごわい）= strong 強いる(しいる）= force; compel愛でる(めでる）= praise 愛おしい(いとおしい）= find lovable 愛弟子(まなでし）= favorite pupil端から(はなから）= from the beginning 口の端(くちのは) = rumor, 口の端に上る = it is rumored 端（はし）= edge 端(はた）= side, 道の端 = roadside眩しい(まぶしい）= glittering 眩い(まばゆい）=glaring 目眩く(めくるめく）= dazzling; blinding惚れる(ほれる）= to fall in love 自惚れ(うぬぼれ）= self-conceit 遊び惚ける(あそびほうける）= entertain oneself to the hilt寝惚ける(ねぼける）= be half asleep 惚気(のろけ）= to brag about one's girl or wife 惚ける(とぼける）= play dumb 傍(そば）= closely by the side 傍ら(かたわら）= beside; in addition to 傍(はた）= nearby傍目八目(おかめはちもく）= bystanders knows better (comes from "go" play, meaning those watching the game can read up to eight moves ahead of the players themselves).翔ぶ(とぶ）= to fly 天翔る(あまかける）= fly through the sky 翔く(はばたく）= to beat wings as a bird怯える(おびえる）= to be scared 怯む(ひるむ) = to hesitate; to chicken out騙される(だまされる）= to get cheated 騙る(かたる) = impersonate; use false identity貶す(けなす）= to speak badly of 貶める(おとしめる）= to look down upon; disdain萎える(なえる）= to become withered 萎む(しぼむ）= deflate; shrivel; wilt 萎びる(しなびる）= shrivel; wilt燻る(くすぶる）= smolder 燻銀の演技 (いぶしぎんのえんぎ）= a sedate but soul-evoking play燻らす(くゆらす）= to smoke tobacco澱みがない(よどみがない）= smooth and fluent 澱(おり）= dregs; sedimentation; the lees of wine cask梳く(すく）= to straighten by combing 梳く(とく）and 梳る（くしけずる） read different but means the same thing as 梳く.選ぶ(えらぶ）= to select 選る(よる）= to select殺す(ころす）= to kill 殺める(あやめる）= to kill 殺ぐ(そぐ) = to reduce or shave off 殺陣(たて）= sword play scenes in stage play or movies